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May 13, 2009

G34: Angels 8, Red Sox 4

The night started well. Nine pitches into the game, Boston had a 2-0 lead, thanks to Jason Bay's 10th home run of the year. In the second, after Palmer issued two full-count walks and Nick Green doubled and Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out, the Red Sox led 4-0.

After that, only one Boston hitter reached base. Bay singled with one out in the third and was immediately erased on a double play. Palmer (9-5-4-2-8, 109) retired 22 of the last 23 batters he faced, striking out five of the final seven. (It's been awhile since we complained about a relative unknown pitcher shutting down the Sox.)

The Angels sent ten men to the plate against Wakefield (4.2-11-7-3-2, 91) in the third. The first five reached base and scored, with Mike Napoli's three-run dong being the big blow.

Daniel Bard (#60) made his major league debut in the sixth inning, relieving Hunter Jones with runners at second and third and no outs. He struck out Napoli on three high fastballs (96, 96, 98), gave up a sacrifice fly, then got a grounder to end the inning. In the seventh, he was touched for a single and walk, but showed poise and pitched out of trouble. His line: 2-2-0-1-1, 38 (charts).

He looked great. All of his pitches were around the plate -- in the seventh inning, he had the Angels left-handed hitters Erick Aybar and Chone Figgins swinging defensively and fouling balls off to the third base side -- and it was amazing to see 98 mph heaters come out of such a smooth and easy delivery.

Palmer has made six major league starts, three with the Giants last season (8.53 ERA in 12.2 innings) and three so far in 2009 with the Angels.

MLB.com says that Palmer continues "to baffle hitters with the movement on his cut fastball and sinker while mixing in off-speed stuff. ... he feels he has found a new approach by improving his mechanics and getting a more direct path to home plate."

How often does David Ortiz think about having hit no home runs in 146 plate appearances?

Every day. Every day. Sleeping. Eating. Having breakfast. It's bad. You've got guys around the league that don't even have home run swings and they're hitting home runs like crazy. You think about it. You think, whoa, what's up?

184 comments:

I watched Palmer's last two starts, and every hitter seemed WAY out in front of his pitches. He doesn't throw hard at all, and his pitch doesn't move all that much. He leaves stuff over the plate. He should be hittable, if people just stay back.

Phew, thankfully, my kid doesn't care that much about sports, because otherwise, she'd be really depressing about the Caps losing 6-2 tonight.She gets more worked up about "Star Trek.""Dad, you can't dump an anti-matter core into a black hole; it would annihilate the entire solar system....""Sssssh, it's just a movie.""But, but, but....""Ssssshhhhh...."

I got this real Nick Esasky feel when Bay hit that. Then I remembered I was calling some guy "Esasky II" last year. I went and checked, and sure enough it was him. I guess the reason I started that when he got here is because he "should pack an Esasky-type punch." But he really does have this right-handed, white guy, monster dong with half-casual trot out of the box feel. No beard, though. Or vertigo.

Exact same thing as a few days ago on the play where Jacoby hurt himself. He was called out and they said how the ball beat him, even though he was clearly safe. Except here, the ball beat him AND the tag beat him but they STILL said safe. Unbelievable. That play's called out 99% of the time even if the hand does get in there.

US Route 2, for instance, has two segments! The east segment goes from Houlton, Maine to Rouses Point, New York. Then it disappears. Re-appears again St. Ignace, Michigan on the upper peninsula and travels across the far northern plains all the way out to Everett, Washington.

These retarded Californians in the front row caught off guard by a ball hit right at them on a nice easy bounce. YOu're sitting in the goddamn front row, how are you not standing with both hands out ready for any ball coming out there? Instead: "ahhh! where'd this ball come from?? Dear god, cover your face!"